Mohammed Al Shanfari

Early life and education

He was born on 26 December 1949, in Salalah, Dhofar, Oman. where he and his two brothers Ahmed and Abdullah were raised. His mother, who died while he was young, was Saida Bint Abdulazis Al Ruwas and his father was Sheikh Said Bin Asalm Mohammed Al Shanfari. His earliest education was from tutors at home. At age 10 he went to the Al Saidiya School in Salalah. At age 12 he left Oman and went to an English-curriculum Oil-company school in Abu Dhabi from which he graduated.

He held a master's degree in Theatrical Directing which he obtained from the University of Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1974; a Higher Diploma in Theatre Studies which he obtained from Cardiff University, United Kingdom, in 1978; and a Television Sciences Higher Diploma which he obtained from Syracuse University, New York, United States, in 1980.

Mr Al-Shanfari was a Referee on the committee for evaluation of religious TV programs at the first TV festival in the Gulf, in Kuwait, in 1979. He represented Oman at the Cannes International Film Festival (Cannes Film Festival) in 1981. He was a representative of Oman at the Arab-African Film Symposium in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1981. He was a member of the Cultural Committee of the General Secretary of the Gulf Cooperation Council, (Arab states of the Persian Gulf), 1982-1986 He participated in the first theatre festival in the Gulf, in Kuwait, in March 1988.